This story is presented as part of this week’s New to Town issue.
The first thing you need to know is that Seattle leans left. It’s probably the most left-wing major city in the country. Elected officials who would qualify as bona fide progressives in, say, Saint Louis or Buffalo routinely get heckled here as spineless sellouts.
Seriously, democracy in Seattle comes with a dose of jeers. Just pop into a city council meeting when there’s something divisive on the agenda—like an employee hours tax (also known as a head tax) or a plan to upzone a neighborhood (allowing developers to make buildings taller)—and you’ll see.
Republicans, meanwhile, don’t stand a chance at winning local office. Generally speaking, the battle lines fall between people pushing against the edge of progressive policy and people who would like to push much further.
You can’t fault anyone for a sense of urgency. Seattle’s tech-fueled growth brought an era of prosperity for some, but many others got left out. Now people are feeling the sting of soaring housing prices and rising income inequality. According to the last count, there are more than 11,000 homeless people in King County.
